Burning Marshmallow

I don’t know any guy who doesn’t enjoy setting things on fire. I’m no exception. I love watching things burn. Mix this with my affinity for food, photography and well … things that are sugary … and this is what you get.

Additionally, while there may be a debate about the optimal roasting of a marshmallow, I prefer my burnt.

What I enjoyed finding in the stills was the puffs of smoke that burst out like little smoke rings. Air, sugar and fire. What a fun combination with very interesting results.

This video is a series of stills from my experiment. Each marshmallow burn was about 15-30 seconds. I was grabbing an image/frame about every second.

So, next time you’re at a campfire roasting marshmallows, think of all the little things happening that we usually don’t see with the naked eye.

Hmmm … what to burn next? Any suggestions?

-Kyle

Nashville Arts ~ Valentine Food

The February issue of Nashville Arts Magazine just hit the stands this week. The creative team lead by Paul Polucarpou and Katie Sulkowski make for a fun group to work with.

This particular feature was driven by poetry from Alimentum: The Literature of Food and written by Paulette Licitra.

On the photography side of things our A-team lineup in the studio was fabulous food stylist Teresa Blackburn, innovative recipe developer Nancy Vienneau, and trusted first-assistant Rory White.

There’s probably a lot that could be said for chocolate truffles, berry cobbler, lemon cake, kiwi tart, chocolate banana parfait and tiramisu, but I’d prefer to let the images do the talking.

Berry Cobbler

Tiramisu

Tiramisu (outtake)

Chocolate Banana Parfait (outtake)

Chocolate Truffls

Chocolate Banana Parfait (outtake)

Lemon Cake with Lemon Liquor

Kiwi Tart

This was a fun assignment. Thanks to everyone involved.

- Kyle
“Yum … that was good!”

Food from across the pond

Following are images from an editorial gig for Home Life magazine which is a title produced by Life Way in Nashville. A fun project. Always a pleasure to work with my assistant Rory and food stylist Teresa. And, the art director was great to work with. Thanks Susan for an all around a fun assignment.

Feature Opener - British Food

Chicken Pasties

Bangers and Mash

Potato Wedges

Pudding Cake

There you have it … or as they’d say in the UK … “Bob’s your uncle!”

-Kyle

Mega Megapixels

In a world of “more is better” I often find myself fighting for the “less is more” concept. (see Mr. Critical’s prior post) But today, I’m here to tell you, that more megapixels IS better … at least when you couple that with a medium format Phase One digital back, a Hasselblad camera and a superior lens.

First, let me say that not all megapixels are created equal. I’ll go into detail in a subsequent post. The main point is that a bigger sensor size makes for happier megapixels.

So, wanna see what comes from a 31.6 megapixel digital back?

Here’s the final image which is cropped close to full frame.

Here are a few images taken from the image at actual (1:1) size.

Can you see what I mean?

Stay tuned for more happy thoughts and opinions about megapixels.

-Kyle

Whisky Business

I couldn’t resist the pun. Forgive me.

Sometimes objects themselves serve as inspiration for me. I’m a sucker for anything old … for the most part … old cheese isn’t top of my list. Anyway, I found this old whisk on a recent outing were I end the day with a car load of photo props I use in my food photography.

So, here is what was in my head the day I purchased said whisk.

Until next time …
- Kyle

Wine Pour – Photography Style

In the commercial photography industry there is a specialty known as a “pour”. This is a test I did yesterday. I think I went through about a dozen or so glasses of wine … shooting, not drinking.

The challenge is stopping motion but at the right time. There are certain equipment limitations which prevail … the most prominent is flash duration. Normally you’d think you can just set your shutter to as fast as you can but flashes to do not sync well when shooting fast than 1/250 of a second … hence the black half of an image … the shutter curtain.

The other factor that plays into this type of photography is the depth of field. The more detail you want to retain aka broader depth of field, the more you have to stop down the aperture, then the more light you need, then the longer the flash duration … leading to more motion blur.

The trick? Many small strobes with very short flash duration. This image is my second test. In my next test, I will be pushing the limits with greater depth of field. Maybe I’ll choose a Riesling next time.

Until then, cheers.

-Kyle

Splash Photography

Well, today was a testing day. Needless to say, the studio is a little more wet than … well … it’s never this wet. It’s been a fun day of red wine, whipped cream and strawberries … not all in one shot.

This is one of the successful splashes. Just like any other day of test shots, today was a learning experience and I’m excited about testing more next week.

You’ll have to wait for the wine and whipped cream …

-Kyle

Willa’s Shortbread – tall on flavor!

It’s Friday and I’m feeling the need to blog. I could probably stand a few laps around the track and a visit to the gym but for now … I’m gonna blog.

A few weeks ago at the Food Network Southern Food & Wine Show I met an industrious and personable gentleman (Eric Rion) who makes a killer shortbread cookie. (The Keylime flavor is my favorite.) As it goes, he hired me to do some food photography for an upcoming Southern Living ad for his product.

I know I’ve many times stated and restated my policy about not eating food off the set. And, I have been faithful to that self-imposed charge. But, when Eric brings extra product which doesn’t even make it to set, then I’ve got to at least give in a bit … and I did. Willa’s Shortbread bites are the ticket!

Below is the shot for his ad. It’s his signature/flagship cookie. Nothing fancy but it sure is good and buttery.

Until next photo shoot … got get ya some Willa’s Shortbread!

- Kyle

Food Photography for Puckett’s

The good folks at Spring Sprang in Franklin, TN did a bang up job on designing a wonderful site for Puckett’s Grocery. I was fortunate enough to be hired to do some food photography to help in the effort.

Now, Spring Sprang has just released a little behind the scenes video of the making of the site. You’ll find I have a small appearance.

Enjoy, if you please.

http://vimeo.com/6209607

- Kyle

“Frozen” Margarita Food Styling

Well, I don’t think I’ve ever seen something look so good but be so toxic. This is made from a material that is designed to help plants grow … but it’s doing it’s job as a frozen margarita on set for food photography.

This morning I’m breaking down the set from the shoot late yesterday and the drink actually still looks half decent. One issue I ran into with this particular food styling technique was color. You’ll see from the images below that my formula looks more like a bellini than a margarita. So, in post production I had to swing color on the margarita portion.

I continue to work more on the drink and pour section of my food photography portfolio. Look for updates over the next few weeks. It’s yet another part of my work that I enjoy … it’s challenging, it’s technical, it’s creative … and it’s related to food!

Food Network Southern Food & Wine Festival

Well, it’s just a few days away from what will be an fun weekend. I’ve actually got a booth for the exhibitor hall at the upcoming Southern Food & Wine Festival at Gaylord Opry in Nashville. I think I’m looking most forward to seeing who the other exhibitors are. I wonder what fun kitchen utensil I’ll fall in love with. Will it be the lemon zester or the ceramic knife set?

At my booth passers-by will have the opportunity to be “shot with food”. I’ve got a couple fun photos that are large with a hole for people to stick their heads through. One is a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and the other is a Le Crusset stock pot. It should be fun.

So, stay tuned. I’ll post photos after the even. For now, feel free to see my food photography site dreierstudio.com.

Food Photography Portfolio

I’m moments away from finishing the 2nd (dupicate) food photography portfolio. Doing a physical book is a great exercise. I’d gotten away from printing a nice big book thanks to the convenience of the Internet.

Getting back to the nice big prints (11 x 14) has helped me to really study my work rather than simply toss it up into cyber space. I’ve been forced to edit down to 36 images – unlike a website where there are no constraints. Additionally, going the extra distance in processing and color management for print is always a great way to sharpen the chops.

Now, with two complete food photography portfolios in hand, my rep can make more calls and appointments … hopefully so many that I’ll need to do portfolio #3.

-Kyle

Rotier’s Hamburger – Nashville

I received an assignment from Charlotte Magazine in North Carolina to photograph a famed burger from Rotier’s in Nashville, TN. How could I resist … that’s a dream assignment!

This is one of the outtakes from the food photography session. You’ll have to wait to see the selected food photographs until it is published.

Rotier

I sure love being a food photographer in Nashville.

- Kyle

Food. Test. Shoot.

I’m long overdue for a post to the bog, but things have been beyond busy.

I am very grateful for abundance of work these days, particularly with the news that airs nightly. Honestly, I think this is a great time to be in business for yourself … despite the unfair taxation. I digress.

Today I was putting together a few test shots for a potential client. This is probably my favorite way to shoot … loose parameters, flexible deadlines, and food. (disclaimer/confession: I did not sample the subjects, however I was highly tempted … these pepper jellies smell awesome.)

Raspberry Pepper Jelly, Blackberry Pepper Jelly and Strawberry Pepper Jelly.

Blackberry Pepper Jelly

Blackberry Pepper Jelly

That’s all for now.

-Kyle

Food. Photography. Red Pony.

I’ve recently shot a number of dishes for Red Pony Restaurant in downtown Franklin, TN. Here are a few of the shots. There are others but I have yet to fully process them.

Sushi from Red Pony - Franklin, TN

Shrimp - Red Pony - Franklin, TN

My only disappointment was that I didn’t get to taste what you see. It sure was tempting though. I can, however, vouch for their creme bruleé … and I’d be thrilled to vouch for it again, and again, and again.

If you’d like to see more see my food photography section of my portfolio.

You can also track me via my FaceBook Nashville Commercial Photographer page.

Cheers.

- Kyle Dreier